Monis Software, a financial analytics software business backed by Kennet Venture Partners, has been acquired by SunGard Trading and Risk Systems, an operating group of SunGard (NYSE:SDS). Kennet invested $2.7m in Monis in 1998 and was the company's primary financial backer.
Monis is an established leader in pricing models, analytic libraries and data services for convertible bonds, equity options, FX options, interest rate derivatives, credit derivatives and credit default swaps. Monis will operate as an operating unit of SunGard Trading and Risk Systems, led by Emanuel Mond, co-founder and current co-chairman of Monis. The new unit will incorporate SunGard's TrueCalc application for convertible bond pricing and analysis, in order to leverage the synergies between the Monis and TrueCalc applications.
Mr. Mond said of the acquisition, "Over the last two years, we set out on a course to rapidly transform Monis to provide new and enhanced solutions for our clients. We created a new front-office system, released the latest and most comprehensive spreadsheet based application, and enhanced our data services. While we continued to grow as a company over this period, we believe that it is now necessary to partner with an industry leader like SunGard to capture valuable synergies and strengthen our resource base. Our complementary strengths with SunGard will enable us to deliver innovative solutions to our clients and prospects."
Jim Ashton, chief executive officer of SunGard Trading and Risk Systems, said, "With over 350 customers worldwide, mainly blue-chip companies, Monis is a reputable leader in providing pricing models and data services to financial institutions. SunGard offers Monis clients the resources and security of an established, reliable vendor partner. Pursuant to our strategy to bring best practice risk management to the buy side, Monis' client base, which includes a large number of hedge funds, will help us to more effectively support the evolving needs of that market."
Michael Elias, managing director of Kennet Venture Partners, was a member of the board of directors of Monis from 1998 until the acquisition by SunGard. He said, "The acquisition of Monis by a global leader such as SunGard is a testament to the quality of its products, its team, and the company's strong market position. Founders and co-chairmen Emanuel Mond and Brent Isaacs have done a terrific job building this business and I am certain that within SunGard, the company will continue to prosper."
Kennet Venture Partners (www.kennet.com) is a leading European early-stage venture capital firm focused exclusively on the IT, communications and media industries. Kennet Venture Partners places a strong emphasis on investments in networking and communications technologies, semiconductor IP, Internet infrastructure and enterprise software. Kennet Venture Partners acts as manager of Kennet II LP, a Guernsey limited partnership and advisor to Kennet I LP, a Jersey limited partnership. Kennet Venture Partners is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
July 24, 2002
Kennet Venture Partners Ltd announced today that it has participated in a follow-on funding round of £7.2m for Volantis Systems Ltd (Volantis), a leading provider of multi-channel software solutions that allow organisations to cost-effectively deploy web-applications across multiple devices. The funding was led by Accel Partners and, in addition to Kennet, included existing shareholders. Volantis has previously been funded by Kennet Venture Partners and Softbank. Kaj-Erik Relander will join the Board of Volantis Systems as a result of the Accel investment.
Volantis' flagship product, "Mariner," supports the deployment of multi-channel applications via one, central Web application, eliminating the need to tailor separate content for each device. The strategic value of Volantis' technology is evidenced by recently signed contracts with mobile leaders Hutchison 3G (recently re-branded as 3) and Telefónica Móviles.
David Carratt, managing director of Kennet Venture Partners said, "Volantis has made exceptional progress over the past two years since Kennet's first investment. The acceptance of its main product by industry leaders in the wireless operator market and the compelling logic of developing a multi-device solution continue to convince us of Volantis' value proposition. Clearly, as businesses 'extend the enterprise' to mobile devices, Volantis Systems' multi-device enabling solutions will be in great demand."
Responding to the needs of companies looking to reach customers over the growing number of connected devices and networks (mobile handsets, PDAs, iTV, etc), Volantis' Mariner software intelligently targets, personalises and optimises the presentation and behaviour of web applications according to the device being used to access it. The technology eliminates the need for organisations to continuously invest in their web strategies as new devices are introduced onto the market.
Terry Davies, CEO of Volantis, commented: "Like any fundamental shift in technology, multi-channel web infrastructures represent both an opportunity and a risk to business. An opportunity because it provides businesses, such as banks, enterprises and other service providers, with a means of extending customer reach and allowing customers to chose how they interact with a service, and a risk because of the potential costs required to support these new channels and devices. Volantis Mariner has removed this layer of complexity by offering a capability to support new devices as they are released, delivering tailored content from one central web application." said Kaj-Erik Relander, a general partner at Accel Partners, "Seamless delivery of content and applications in a wireless, multi-channel environment is becoming an increasingly important issue for wireless carriers and enterprises alike. Volantis' breadth and depth of technology, combined with a demonstrated delivery capability, leaves them uniquely placed to lead the market in this area."
Kennet Venture Partners is a leading European early-stage venture capital firm focused exclusively on the IT, communications and media industries. Kennet Venture Partners places a strong emphasis on investments in networking and communications technologies, semiconductor IP, Internet infrastructure and enterprise software. Kennet Venture Partners acts as manager of Kennet II LP, a Guernsey limited partnership and advisor to Kennet I LP, a Jersey limited partnership. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
Volantis develops enterprise and carrier class infrastructure software for the Pervasive Internet. With Volantis, enterprises and telcos can increase their speed to market by rapidly delivering support for wireless and broadband devices, and future-proof their investment in interactive application development by dynamically adapting to new technologies in the market.
March 6, 2002 — The Board of Clearswift Corporation, the secure content management company, is delighted to announce that its acquisition of Content Technologies from Baltimore Technologies plc was today approved by shareholders at an Extraordinary General Meeting in London.
The acquisition has created a British company that will be the world's number one company by market share for managing email and web secure content. Following the acquisition, Clearswift will:
The total consideration of £20.5 million comprises £12m in cash, £2.5m in Clearswift 5% loan notes maturing in 12 months and £6m in preference shares in Clearswift representing 11% of the enlarged company. To fund the acquisition and provide additional working capital requirements to expand and develop the enlarged business, Clearswift has secured £22m of new funding from a consortium of venture capitalists - Kennet Capital, Cazenove Private Equity and Amadeus Capital Partners.
Clearswift will take over Content Technologies' MIMEsweeper products, the world's leading family of Web, Email and Intranet content security solutions. These alongside Clearswift's award-winning Enterprise Email Management solutions will command more than 11,000 customers and more than 10 million users worldwide.
Commenting on the acquisition, Don Taylor, Chief Executive of Clearswift, said: "We are delighted that our offer has been accepted. During the last six weeks we have made significant progress in our plans to integrate both organisations' people, products and processes. We are confident that Content management and employees alike will welcome their secure new future under the Clearswift banner and that together we can work to strengthen our leading position worldwide."
The two companies are complementary in business, management, geography and sales channels. Clearswift will accelerate its product development as a result of the acquisition and be able to offer existing customers increased support and services going forward as well as maintaining its joint track record of market leading products.
Clearswift Corporation is a provider of award-winning Enterprise Email Management solutions. Clearswift provides organisations worldwide with highly scalable tools for content filtering, messaging policy enforcement and email security. Clearswift ES (Enterprise Suite) is a portfolio of products for larger enterprises, government organisations and service providers. MailGuard is a streamlined product for small and medium sized enterprises. Mistakes and malice using email can lead to high-profile security breaches, expensive lawsuits and damaged reputations. Clearswift products can combat the abuse of the email communications channel, in turn offering protection and peace of mind.
The company is headquartered in Ruscombe, Berkshire, with a Software Laboratory in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, UK. US headquarters are in Waltham, Massachusetts. Clearswift traded as NET-TEL from 1982 to June 2001. More information about Clearswift, its products and services is available at www.clearswift.com.
Content Technologies' MIMEsweeper products are the world's leading family of Web, Email and Intranet content security solutions. More than 10,000 customers and 10 million users globally use the award winning MIMEsweeper solutions to protect their networks and business form email and Web-based threats. These threats include the circulation of inappropriate images and text, Spam and oversize files that can cause degradation in network service, loss and corruption of data, breaches of confidentiality, as well as viruses and malicious code. For more information on Content Technologies, see www.mimesweeper.com.
January, 24, 2002
A syndicate of venture capital funds, led by Kennet Capital and Cazenove Private Equity, has agreed to fund the acquisition of the Content Technologies business from Baltimore Technologies plc. The purchase will be made by Clearswift, a private UK-based company backed by venture firm Amadeus Capital Partners, who is also participating in the investment. Jointly the syndicate, which also includes Bank of America Equity Partners, has agreed to invest £22 million in Clearswift in order to build the world's leading policy-based content security software company. The acquisition of Content Technologies has been agreed for a consideration to Baltimore of £12 million in cash plus £8.5 million in loan notes and shares.
The merged Clearswift and Content Technologies will have a customer base of over 11,000 companies and will be in the vanguard of the rapidly growing market for content policy management software, according to IDC the fastest-growing segment of the content security software market. Operating under the Clearswift name, the company will be run by an exceptionally experienced management team, which has been recruited out of the industry by Clearswift CEO Don Taylor, former vice president at Tumbleweed Communications.
Commenting on the investment, Tod Bensen of Cazenove Private Equity said, "We have known Content Technologies since well before it was bought by Baltimore and have long been convinced of the opportunity represented by content security. Similarly we have been monitoring Clearswift since Amadeus made its original investment. The combined company will have the management, technology and scale to lead in its sector and respond to the strong demand each company has been seeing for its products."
Content security software provides more effective perimeter protection against email- and Web-based network threats than anti-virus solutions alone. More important, it also ensures protection from legal liability due to inappropriate use of email or the Web, prevents leakage of sensitive corporate information, and limits loss of employee productivity.
"Content security has clearly risen to the top of the corporate agenda. It's no longer just about anti-virus protection, but about applying comprehensive policies to use of email communications and the Internet," said David Carratt, managing director of Kennet Capital, "This divestiture is clearly indicative of the type of deal opportunities that exist for technology investors in today's market environment."
CEO Don Taylor was attracted into Clearswift in early 2001 by Amadeus Capital Partners, who provided the initial funding to pursue this market opportunity. Amadeus' Richard Anton, who joined the board of Clearswift, soon identified the natural fit with Content Technologies and took the lead in pulling together an investment syndicate to fund the acquisition. He said, "Clearswift has achieved all its targets since our first investment and is a company with outstanding management and technology. This merger with a similarly high calibre company brings exceptional synergies for future growth in a worldwide market."
Content Technologies' MIMEsweeper product is the world's most recognised brand in advanced email filtering and scanning. Don Taylor, who will run the combined company, said, "We are putting these companies together because they have complementary products, channels, geographic presence and management. Combined under the Clearswift banner, we are well-positioned to exploit our leadership position in this high-growth market."
In addition to the syndicate's investment, Baltimore Technologies has agreed to retain a substantial stake in the combined business. For Bijan Khezri, CEO of Baltimore, the rationale is clear: "We believe this merger creates a world-class company, and we want both our shareholders and Content Technologies' employees to benefit from the value created by this transaction."
Kennet Capital and Cazenove Private Equity will appoint non-executive directors to the Clearswift board. Content Technologies' founder, David Guyatt, who is investing personally in Clearswift, has also agreed to join the board.
Together the companies will be able to exploit numerous product and commercial synergies. The company will have best-of-breed email filtering products for NT, Unix and Linux platforms. Clearswift will be able to provide Content Technologies' customers with advanced policy management options and the ability to manage distributed policy management servers. Both companies see new communications channels such as Instant Messaging and SMS as opportunities for the future. The companies will pool R&D resources and share existing libraries of software code to accelerate the development of new functionality and products.
Cazenove Private Equity (CPE) is a division of Cazenove Group plc, a leading independent investment bank. CPE was established in April 2000 with the objective of producing superior returns for its investors. Its first fund, the Cazenove New Europe Access Fund (CNEAF), raised £234 million from a combination of leading European institutional investors and Cazenove itself. CNEAF invests in unquoted companies in the UK and continental Europe in the technology, media, telecommunications and Internet sectors. The focus is on second and third round pre-IPO financings and the fund seeks to be a partner of choice for both leading European technology companies and their early stage investors.
www.cazenove.com
Kennet Capital is the early-stage venture capital firm of Broadview, a leading global M&A advisor and private equity investor focused exclusively on the IT, communications and media industries. With $275 million under management, Kennet Capital places a strong emphasis on companies in networking and communications technologies, semiconductor IP, Internet infrastructure and enterprise software. Kennet Capital Limited seeks to leverage the collective intellectual capital of the entire Broadview organization to the benefit of portfolio companies.
www.kennet.com
Amadeus is a specialist venture capital firm backing new technologies. Founded in 1997, the firm manages £285 million and has backed 37 companies in the UK and continental Europe, covering computer hardware and software, mobile and fixed communications technologies and new media. Amadeus has established a reputation among entrepreneurs for silicon valley-style, hands on assistance and 'door opening', and among investors for proving that early stage technology investing can be profitable in the long term.
www.amadeuscapital.com
Clearswift, based in Reading, UK, attracted first round funding led by
Amadeus last year. The company's products include Clearswift ES, an enterprise platform for managing email filtering and Web access policies in complex organisations, including large corporate and government departments. In addition, Clearswift markets MailGuard, an award winning email security product for small and medium enterprises. With Amadeus' help last year, Clearswift attracted Andy De Mari, a serial entrepreneur who founded the NASDAQ quoted company ISOCOR, as non-executive Chairman, and Don Taylor, who had previously run the international operations of Tumbleweed Communications, as CEO.
www.clearswift.com
Content Technologies, which was acquired by Baltimore in 2000, launched their MIMEsweeper solution in 1995. Today the company's product set includes MAILsweeper for SMTP, SECRETsweeper, MAILsweeper for Microsoft Exchange, WEBsweeper, MIMEsweeper for Domino and e-Sweeper. MIMEsweeper is the world's leading family of e-mail, web, and intranet content security solutions used by over 10 million people to protect their networks and business from e-mail and web-based threats that include the circulation of inappropriate images and text, spam and oversize files that can cause degradation in network service, loss and corruption of data, breaches of confidentiality, as well as viruses, 'worms' and malicious downloadable code.
Baltimore Technologies offers a wide variety of PKI products and services, access control and authorization management solutions, wireless e-security solutions, cryptographic toolkits, content security products, security applications, and hardware cryptographic devices. In addition, our global professional services organization offers consulting, training, and deployment support for customers worldwide.
CascadeWorks, the leader in enabling services e-procurement, today announced the completion of its second round of financing. The $8 million round was led by Kennet Capital Limited - Broadview's early stage venture affiliate, with existing investor NEA also participating. CascadeWorks will use the funding to continue its penetration of the growing market for services e-procurement solutions and to aggressively grow its customer base which currently includes leading companies such as ABN AMRO North America, Autodesk, Charles Schwab and Texas Instruments.
"We are impressed with CascadeWorks' ability to deliver immediate and significant cost savings to its customers which is critical in today's economy," said Javier Rojas managing director at Kennet Capital LLC. "As a result, CascadeWorks has successfully closed marquee customers, attracted key partners like Ariba and proven its ability to compete effectively against other top-tier technology players."
Completing this round of funding caps a series of recent accomplishments for the company. In October, CascadeWorks released CascadeWorks™ Clarity 3.0, the third-generation release of its application suite that leverages the Internet to drive the entire services purchasing life cycle, from requisition to payment, across multiple business units and all service categories in the enterprise.
CascadeWorks furthered its momentum by signing numerous strategic alliances. Most recently, the company announced an alliance with Ariba® Inc., through which Ariba will leverage CascadeWorks' Clarity Services E-procurement Suite to deliver Ariba® Workforce™, an Ariba-branded solution for selecting, procuring, and managing temporary staff, contractors, and consultants. The alliance provides CascadeWorks with worldwide market presence and Ariba the ability to offer new and installed customers greater cost savings.
The company also recently announced that top staffing firms joined the CascadeWorks Ready program, demonstrating their endorsement of CascadeWorks Clarity and the benefits of services e-procurement. CascadeWorks also signed a partnership with PrO Unlimited to offer optional vendor on premise services for companies preferring centralized staffing management. Other recent partnerships accelerated CascadeWorks' drive to deliver maximum value in the areas of human capital management, professional services automation and contractor compliance screening.
"In today's difficult business environment, funding is awarded only to companies that will emerge from this market as leaders," said Diana Jovin, CEO of CascadeWorks. "Clearly, the investment community has confidence that CascadeWorks is bringing real value to customers by driving significant cost savings in an area where companies currently spend the majority of their purchasing dollars. This funding is an endorsement of how important our solution is to businesses right now and our ability to lead in this new market for services e-procurement."
Kennet Capital Limited is the early-stage venture capital affiliate of Broadview, a leading global M&A advisor and private equity investor focused exclusively on the IT, communications and media industries. The fund has $275 million under management. Kennet Capital Limited places a strong emphasis on investments in networking and communications technologies, semiconductor IP, Internet infrastructure and enterprise software. Kennet Capital Limited strives to leverage the collective intellectual capital of the entire Broadview organization to the benefit of portfolio companies. Kennet Capital Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. For additional information, visit www.kennet.com.
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) is a leading venture capital firm investing primarily in biotechnology, information technology, and medical/life sciences companies. Practicing classic venture capital for over 20 years, NEA focuses on early stage investments, playing an active role in assisting management to build companies of lasting value. With $4.9 billion under management, NEA's experienced management team has invested in over 400 companies, of which more than 135 have gone public and more than 150 have been acquired. For additional information, visit www.nea.com.
CascadeWorks enables Global 2000 companies to derive strategic business advantage from services e-procurement - the inter-enterprise process for sourcing, managing, and paying for services. CascadeWorks' integrated suite of applications, CascadeWorks Clarity, delivers improved management of spend, procurement process and vendor networks addressing the complex inter-enterprise interactions specific to the services procurement life cycle. In use at major corporations such as ABN AMRO North America, Autodesk, Charles Schwab and Texas Instruments, CascadeWorks solutions help businesses significantly reduce costs by optimizing spend, improving process efficiencies, and optimizing the management of their vendors across all categories of services. Based in San Francisco, CA, CascadeWorks is a privately held company with venture capital backing from New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and Kennet Capital Limited.
November 29, 2001
CONSUL Risk Management, a global IT security software provider, today announced a second-round injection of 11 million euros from new investors SOFTBANK Europe Ventures (SBEV) and Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, along with existing investors, NeSBIC CTe Fund and Kennet Capital. This new funding will enable CONSUL to further establish itself as an innovative leader in the enterprise security audit software market by enhancing its audit and administration software product offering, as well as globally expanding the business.
Security auditing software is crucial to the overall security architecture of any business because it ensures that the front-line, security infrastructure is cohesively deployed from the start and prevents it from being undermined at a later stage. CONSUL software covers the activities of internal as well as external users, such as suppliers, customers, partners as well as malicious individuals. IT security auditing is also becoming a 'must-have,' rather than a 'would-like-to-have' due to the demands of new e-business IT infrastructures, operational imperatives and new legislation. The security audit market is poised for rapid growth, as almost all of the Fortune 500 companies have deployed front-line security infrastructure (including firewalls, intrusion detection and user authentication systems), but only the most advanced have yet taken the essential next step of auditing and verifying the security of these infrastructures on an on-going basis.
CONSUL has developed comprehensive, multi-platform security software for IT networks, which does for the network what a security video camera does in a department store or an airport. CONSUL's signature solution, Consul/eAudit version 3.1 (CeA) observes, records and reports the activity of both authorized and unauthorized users on the IT network, thus enabling a company to deter security breaches. With CeA, large corporations are able to manage their security infrastructure efficiently, safely and at a lower cost.
"We have invested in CONSUL because we recognize the increasing need for companies to audit their IT security, and CONSUL's software covers the widest range of platforms and applications in the industry," said James Stuart, managing director of SOFTBANK Europe Ventures. "CONSUL is already one of the largest private companies in the security software industry, with an impressive client base in the US and Europe. This investment will enable it to become globally recognized as a leading force in this industry."
In addition to addressing the audit sector of the security enterprise software market, CONSUL also provides software and consultancy to the emerging group of Managed Security Service (MSS) companies. These services and solutions enable small and medium companies to immediately meet their required IT security level with little effort or financial investment on their part.
Tolga Uzuner, of DrKW's OM Investments team, said: "This investment is consistent with our vision for enterprise security needs in the next-generation open platforms which will be critical to growth of e-business. CONSUL is positioned at the forefront of enterprise-wide audit security and we look forward to contributing to their continued growth."
"The addition of the global reach and service capacities of SBEV and DrKW as investors complements CONSUL's original backers and rounds out a strong team of investors behind the company, said Martin Poulsen, a vice president at Kennet Capital Limited.
"We are thrilled to welcome SOFTBANK Europe Ventures (SBEV) and Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein as new CONSUL investors," said Koen Bouwers, CEO of CONSUL Risk Management. "The additional investment by previous investors, NeSBIC and Kennet Capital, speaks to the results CONSUL has delivered to date and their confidence in our future. We look forward to using this new financing to further enhance our enterprise-wide audit and administration software and continue our global expansion."
CONSUL is a leading worldwide IT security software developer specialized in audit and admin tools for enterprise-wide security management. CONSUL has years of experience with security and system performance solutions. Based in Delft, The Netherlands, CONSUL was founded in 1986 and has since then grown into the largest independent security software company in the Netherlands. CONSUL is internationally represented by subsidiaries in the USA, Germany and Denmark, and sales offices worldwide. In 1998, NeSBIC CTe Fund and Kennet Capital participated in the financing of the company. Since 1995, CONSUL has been active in the US market and has an office in the Boston area. CONSUL is committed to the highest standard in its products and services, which range from consultancy, managed security services, penetration testing to enterprise-wide audit and administration security software. With CONSUL security solutions, large corporations can manage their security infrastructure efficiently, safely and at lower cost. CONSUL consultancy and managed security services enable medium and small corporations to meet their required IT security level with great ease. Confidence in a networked world!
Please visit www.consul.com for more information.
Kennet Capital Limited is the early-stage venture capital affiliate of Broadview, a leading global M&A advisor and private equity investor focused exclusively on the IT, communications and media industries. The fund has $275 million under management. Kennet Capital Limited places a strong emphasis on investments in networking and communications technologies, semiconductor IP, Internet infrastructure and enterprise software. Kennet Capital Limited strives to leverage the collective intellectual capital of the entire Broadview organization to the benefit of portfolio companies. Kennet Capital Limited is regulated by IMRO in the UK.
For additional information, visit www.kennet.com
SOFTBANK Europe Ventures (SBEV) is a venture capital fund, focusing on best-of-breed, early-stage technology companies across Europe and Israel. SOFTBANK Europe Ventures' goal is to partner with the most promising entrepreneurs to help build world-class companies. The fund is managed through its office in London. SBEV is part of SOFTBANK CORP, one of the world's leaders in technology, with holdings in more than 600 companies globally. SBEV brings its portfolio companies the benefits of its active hands-on approach, as well as SOFTBANK's international network of companies, contacts and partners.
For more information, please visit www.softbank.com
Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein is the marketing name for the investment bank of Dresdner Bank AG, a member of the Allianz Group. Headquartered in London, Frankfurt and New York, DrKW provides a full range of investment banking products and services to European and other international clients including corporations, institutions and governments through its Investment Banking, Global Equities, Global Debt, Online Markets and Private Equity business lines. DrKW adds value for its clients by utilizing its strengths in European debt and equity markets and its leading position in European distribution, risk management, derivatives and international M&A and advisory work. For more information, please visit www.drkw.com
The fund managed by the OM Investments team has an investment focus on private emerging technology companies whose innovations will impact the evolution of the financial services industry or where a large proportion of revenue may be derived from financial clients.
The NeSBIC CTe Fund is a leading Pan-European independent venture capital fund targeted exclusively at fast growing communications & infrastructure and enabling technologies companies, which are not yet listed on the stock exchange. As a value-added venture capital partner, the CTe Fund truly takes an active part in helping portfolio companies achieve their business vision. In the last three years the CTe Fund has established an international portfolio of over 30 companies in this specific market segment. Well known examples are: VersaTel Telecom, EC-Gate, Altitude Software, Inforay, Energiebedrijf.com, Poseidon and BabyXL. For more information, please visit www.ctefund.com